Persistent rumors

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Rumors are often circulated on Internet sites as facts when there is no basis for them or they have been debunked.
Below are a list of common persistent rumors about Lost, rumors that have been debunked or proven false, yet remain persistent in fan discussions.

Contents

Smoke monster appeared in Pilot, Part 1

There is a rumor that a wisp of the Smoke Monster appeared in "Pilot, Part 1", just prior to the turbine engine exploding (and that the Monster thus made the explosion happen). This was debunked in the Official Lost Podcast when Damon Lindelof said that the Monster does not appear on-screen in the first episode. The wisp was likely a result of bad CGI effects or smoke from the wreckage.

DHARMA logo on the aircraft

However, this particular set of markings has been debunked as being markings that can actually be found on planes in real life, and were thus most likely already present on the retired Lockheed L-1011 that was used to create the wreckage of Oceanic Flight 815, not part of any large DHARMA-related logo.

Steve is dead and Scott took his place

Scott Jackson, the character initially played by Dustin Watchman, died in "Homecoming" at Ethan's hands, but Dustin Watchman continued to appear on the show as an extra. Christian Bowman, who had previously played Scott's companion Steve Jenkins, did not appear after "Homecoming", and characters continually referred to the surviving man as "Scott" before being corrected. Some viewers concluded that Steve, rather than Scott, had been Ethan's victim.

In actual fact, Scott died just as the show suggested, but Watchman replaced Bowman as Steve's actor due to a behind-the-scenes mix-up. Christian Bowman confirmed this in an interview with Lostpedia.

Snowman joke

It's often been claimed that the "What did the one snowman say to the other snowman" joke was told in the first season. Various versions differ as to who told the joke, and to whom. Usually they name Hurley, Walt, Michael and Locke as either the joke teller or tellee. Note: the actual answer is: "Smells like carrots".

This Joke was actually told in 1x14 "Special". When Michael was in the hospital he wanted to send a card to Walt but didn't know what to write. So the Nurse told him to draw a picture and put in a joke "what did the snowman say to the other snowman?" The answer was Freeze.

”

The joke was actually "What's black, white, and red all over? A penguin with a sunburn."

“

NURSE: How about a joke?
MICHAEL: What kind of joke?
NURSE: How about what's black, white, and red all over?
MICHAEL: Yeah, a newspaper, right?
NURSE: A penguin with a sunburn.
MICHAEL [laughing]: That's really dumb.
NURSE: Trust me, mother of 4 talking here. He'll get a kick out it.

Surfaced Orientation videos

There are a couple of fan made orientation films which have been confused as being canon:

A "new video" listing all 6 DHARMA Stations has been found by fans of the show, but proven to be a (very well made) hoax. Consequently, this applies to all logos displayed in that film.

Another fan-made video called "Procedure" shows another so-called "new Logo": the Goblet. This is of course also not relevant since the film is not associated with the show.

For a more complete listing of fake videos, see the list of Youtube videos.

Incorrect information told by the producers

Sometimes the misinformation comes from the show's producers themselves. There have been several instances where Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have made claims which have turned out to be completely untrue. Some examples:

In a Sci-Fi Wire interview[2], Damon Lindelof stated that "There isn't any time travel". Following "Flashes Before Your Eyes" and "The Constant", however, many fans argue that Desmond did travel through time; and in season 5, multiple character explicitly travel back and forth in time physically.

The quote "there isn't any time travel" is taken out of context. The actual quote says: "We're STILL trying to be... firmly ensconced in the world of science fact. I don't think we've shown anything on the show YET that has no rational explanation in the real world that we all function within. We certainly hint at psychic phenomena, happenstance and... things being in a place where they probably shouldn't be. But nothing is flat-out impossible. There are no spaceships. There isn't any time travel." (emphasis added). The words YET and STILL should be enough to make it obvious that he's talking about events in the show up to that time, and this shouldn't preclude those elements later on in the show.

Lindelof stating that there isn't any time travel might actually be inaccurate transcripting by the journalist rather than the creators deliberately spreading misinformation, considering the quoted sentence directly contradicts the end of its preceding sentence: "[N]othing is flat out impossible."

This an on-going problem. Carlton Cuse said that he did not believe the Others knew about the Swan; he was quoted on multiple pages as "Cuse said the Others did not know about the Swan." People often hear what they want to hear, read what they want to read.

Natasha Henstridge

In 2006, there was briefly a persistent rumor that actress Natasha Henstridge (of Species fame) was set to join the cast in Season 3. The rumor began when an image claimed to be a clipping from page 19 of the Phildelphia Metro was posted by the TheTailSection.com, and then reposted on July 25, 2006 on the LostTV forums by user "princeofamerica". The clip reads:

"Unfortunately, due to a producer fall out, "Commander in Chief" is not going to be re-comissioned by ABC. It's a shame as we all had fun making the show but they didn't want to make another season. I have a deal with ABC, though, and will be working on the next season of 'Lost'. Filming starts in September and they are creating a character especially for me." - Natasha Henstridge Revealing her fall work plans to us Exclusively".

The rumor was debunked on August 1 by the administrator of Thetailsection.com (link), who cited an inside source by in Lost's casting, but by then the news had been picked up and circulated by the mainstream media [3].

However, the timelines don't match up: Locke spent four years in a wheelchair, whereas Hurley's lottery win occurred one year prior to the plane crash.

Various details for the two buildings don't match up either: Locke fell down eight stories onto grass surrounded by palm trees, whereas Hurley was looking down more than twenty stories onto a busy street.

The man falling from Hurley's building had (on close inspection) a head full of black hair; At the time of his fall, what little hair Locke still had was light-brown, and graying.

Jack's new tattoo

Ever since the ending of "Par Avion", fans have kept pointing out a "new" tattoo they believed to have spotted on Jack's upper left forearm. Occasionally it's even suggested that it might be a plot point to be addressed in a future episode.

However, this is one of actor Matthew Fox's real tattoos. As a matter of fact, the tattoo was seen in several previous episodes, starting with a scene in "Pilot, Part 1" where Kate is stitching up Jack. It's just not as commonly noticed as Jack's other tattoos due to its position.

Transmission on the Beechcraft's radio

After "Deus Ex Machina" first aired, there was a lot of debate about the exact content of the transmission Boone picked up on the Beechcraft's radio. A lot of people claimed having heard "There were no survivors of Oceanic Flight 815" rather than "We're the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815," which was backed up by closed captioning also spelling it out as "There were no survivors." The debate was finally laid to a rest when the exchange was shown from Bernard's perspective in "The Other 48 Days" and he clearly said "No, we're the survivors."

A subsequent version of the argument claimed that the original airing of "Deus Ex Machina" did indeed feature the "There were no survivors" version and it was changed to "No, we're the survivors" for all subsequent airings. An often cited explanation is that the producers originally planned to end Lost's first season (and the show as a whole) with the revelation that all the survivors were already dead ("Purgatory" theory), but changed that plan when the show was renewed for a second season. There is no evidence that the radio transmission was actually changed to a different version, and neither has there been any official confirmation on the theory for the alleged reasons behind such a change.

There has also been insistence by some that the transmission on the episode itself was always "No, we're the survivors," but the "There were no survivors" version was featured in an early trailer. However, the official ABC trailer for this episode ended right before Boone actually picked up the transmission.

Major hint in the Pilot episode

One rumor claims that there was still a major hint or a mystery hidden in "Pilot, Part 1" which none of the fans have discovered thus far.

Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof explicitly referred to this as a "false rumor" in the April 16, 2007 podcast, and gave a rundown on all the big mysteries from the Pilot and when and how those had been answered. The only real remaining mystery would be Charlie's last line from the end of part 2, asking "Guys, where are we?"

This never actually occurred; in fact, the opposite happened, as Damon and Carlton strongly implied that either Mikhail or Ms. Klugh might still be alive in the March 26, 2007 podcast.

Matthew Fox and Malcolm David Kelley filmed a scene for the final season several years ago

This rumor claims that actors Matthew Fox and Malcolm David Kelley filmed a "secret" scene that was going to be used in season 6, or even in the series finale, all the way back during season 3... or even season 1. The alleged reason for this is that Walt is intended to appear like his prepubescent younger self in the rumored scene, not like the teenager he would be once the final season were to be filmed proper.

In the July 8, 2009 edition of TV Guide's Getting Lost, Matt Mitovich, citing multiple "inside sources", explicitly dispelled this rumor, claiming that "not a single frame of film" had been shot for the sixth and final season of the show up until that point.[4]